Arguably, all we experience of life is data. Information received through various sensors, processed first by functions within the sensors themselves, then interpreted by the mind receiving those signals. Light and dark, warm and cold, cacophonous and silent, all must be received, converted into ideas and somehow coalesce from the…

My visual voicemail on my iPhone had only been working sporadically for a few months. It was a small inconvenience but one that accrued over days, weeks and months. Eventually it annoyed me enough so Googled the usual iPhone message boards to find the fix – refresh the phone’s settings. Which…

One startlingly visible aspect of the Catholic faith that engenders consternation, and even revulsion, among non-Catholics, and even some Catholics, it is the crucifix. This symbol — a cross with the figure of a tortured Christ nailed to it, often emaciated, bloody, crowned in thorns, a gash from a spear in…

I am living in a third-floor walkup on the west side of Manchester. It’s small, but it’s got three bedrooms and the kids stay with me about three nights a week. The boys share one of the extra bedrooms, the girls the other, though the little one usually ends up…

I didn’t run the 50 miler I’d signed up for in May. Life got complicated, and I re-prioritized all kinds of stuff. Running too. But in deciding not to run the race, not to keep training for the race, I got a chance to think a good deal more about…

I put off signing up for the next race for a long time, until I was deep into what should have been the training cycle, especially if the next race was going to be a fifty miler. I held onto a baseline of marathon fitness and mental well being, running…

Last night after work, I went out to my friend Ken’s farm in Candia, New Hampshire. It is a beautiful and bucolic place. Kris and I had invested in half a cow – which will supply the family with grass-fed, chemical-and-drug-free, locally raised beef for the next 9-12 months. After…

Reordering books on shelves after their relocation to the basement. Language, theology, running, fly fishing, poetry (oh, did I just say poetry twice in a row?), academic lit, horror, fantasy, history, science fiction, biz and web dev … o the decades, the friends who they make me recall, the tactile…

“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances,” Saint Paul instructs in his letter to the Thessalonians. And whether you’re Christian, or Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, atheist or other, this is good advice. Because science shows that cultivating gratitude has a big impact on your brain, your happiness and your…